I’m a big fan of the Japanese culture and language. I like that it’s spoken in a very emotional context. I always wanted to learn it in such extend that I’m can read most of it. Writing is optional.

So I had to make a plan on how to proceed my goal.

There a quite a few ways to learn it. But most of them are “look at this and try to memorize it” like the Japanese for Dummies Handbook. I have trouble learning like that. Always have, even in school.

Specialized learning Podcasts or courses where sentences are read slowly and translated into english are, for a greenhorn beginner like me, not a good entry point.

I want something that requires little daily use - even if it means I can only master it in a very long time frame. I don’t need a crash course in which I can stumble half-baked sentences in a few months only to feel something accomplished.

On a recent Youtube video I saw there was a very interesting insight on how someone had learned Japanese. It opened my eyes because I didn’t think of that in any kind but even used it for learning english without realizing!

Our Brain is already trained on learning a language, but everything is happening in the “back-brain” as I like to call it. Not noticeable but when used often it comes naturally. “Aha! That is the way I learned English!” said to myself while watching the video. Not through school - still had courses sure but never really understood / learned it that way.
Hearing the language many times on dialogs like Japanese News; Shows; Podcasts; Anime you automatically get the feeling on how the language is used.

• I get a hearing for the differences and have an easy understanding later why something is pronounced that way.
• I can hear and adapt the culture manners
• Pronunciation is key
• I f*cking hate having a german accent, so best way to avoid it is to try to speak it exactly like heard.

My what are my steps which I found for myself?

1. Hearing a lot of Podcasts even if I don’t understand much.
2. Seeing a lot of Japanese News (on YouTube Live) even if I don’t understand much.
3. Writing the basic alphabet of Hiragana and Katagana. Can easy be done in small 10-15 minute sessions everyday. What do I want to achieve? Simple: I can see and remember symbols better if I wrote them a million times. I don’t want to write them perfect just using it to recognize them in wildlife. Thanks to japanese-lesson.com there a good printable PDFs (Hiragana / Katagana). But it helps to see/search the symbols in a different font if you have tendencies for perfectionism. Like me 😅
4. Try to find learning materials (still on ToDo) like they are using in elementary schools for kids. Not something made for adults.

Sure it feels like a small step into the world of learning Japanese. But it is a first good step to not get overwhelmed. For me at least.

The next step will get planned when I feel ready for it. No need to rush anything. Guess learning the vocabulary is a good point then. I may go into reading this which is already in my Amazon shopping cart waitin’ to be bought.

Wish me luck!